Page 44 of Aria's Ascension

Standing side by side now, they both eyed her like they weren’t sure if they could believe her.

Aria pursed her lips and huffed, “I’m serious. Unless there’s really no other option, I’ll stop the lone wolf shit.”

They exchanged a glance. After coming to some kind of unspoken agreement, they looked back at her and nodded once.

“Great.”

They kept staring at her. She needed to say it. She knew she needed to say it. She’d just never been good at apologies.

Drawing in a bracing breath, she whispered, “I’m… sorry.”

Tirox’s face softened from its angry scowl, and Kix smiled tenderly. Closing the distance between them, her firefly scooped her up and kissed her, slowly, druggingly, until having sex out in the open where anyone could come upon them didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

In fact, if she could just wiggle down a little…

Tirox plucked her out of Kix’s arms, spun her around, and took her lips with his.

Aria was panting, her nipples were hard, and her thighs were slick by the time he finished ravishing her mouth and set her on her feet. She swayed slightly and touched her swollen lips. At the sound of low, male laughter, she opened her eyes to slits.

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that, you dirty teases.”

Kix grinned wolfishly and purred, “You cannot threaten with a reward, my treasure.”

“Hush, fool,” Tirox chuckled. Bending, he nipped her earlobe and whispered, “Pay him no heed. I look forward to enduring your punishment.”

Aria shook her head but laughed. “Alright, you two, back to the business of escaping. Firefly, can you try and find someone up there? Even if it's just a lab ant.”

He did the eye sparkle, something she was coming to recognize was his version of a wink, and nodded before letting his lids close.

He stood perfectly still, his expression tightening a little more with each passing moment. She tensed when dark-blue blood trickled from his nose, but forced herself to wait. Finally, he opened his eyes and shook his head frustratedly.

“I got vague feelings. Chaotic, some panicked. One angry. It feels… emptier up there. Fewer lights.” He shook his head again. “I could not pick up anything as clear as thoughts.”

“That’s okay. We’ll talk to the prisoners, see what they know. And we can come back regularly to see if anyone comes within range.”

Having done all they could, they headed back into the main cavern, but paused and eyed what had to be close to a dozen tunnels of different shapes and sizes leading off.

“Red? Any idea which one holds a dragon?”

He drew in a deep breath before zeroing in on a section of wall. “There.”

Squinting, she tried to make out anything that could be a tunnel where he was looking but saw only solid rock. He started off before she could decide whether or not to voice her doubts. She and Kix exchanged a look before she shrugged and followed after him.

When they reached the wall, she wasn’t totally surprised to find that he’d been right. There was indeed a tunnel. It had just been hidden from view by overlapping stone.

“Caves hide many secrets,” he murmured enigmatically.

With that, they proceeded single-file into the darkness, her hand clutching Tirox’s ax harness and Kix’s hand holding her hip.

As much as she wanted to take the lead, she let Tirox go first. If the dragon was no longer blind like he had been in the valley, then Kix lighting up would announce their approach. They couldn’t know what form he was in and whether or not he’d welcome a visit. Stealth was wise and, as Tirox was the only one who could see in the dark, he was the obvious choice to lead. As much as she disliked it, this was the smartest move.

If she kept repeating that, maybe the tightness between her shoulder blades would relax.

In an effort to distract herself, she thought abouthim. The prospect of seeing him again instantly had her heart pounding and her fingertips tingling.

Would he be the man she’d seen on the datapad? Or was he still the dragon? Would he recognize her? What did his voice sound like?

Would he have any of the memories of which she’d been robbed?

---